From flight delays and cancellations, to baggage charges and denied boarding, there are plenty of things that can go wrong when travelling by air.
As an ADR provider specialising in air-travel complaints, we at AviationADR see all kinds of issues passengers bring to us when they’ve been unable to resolve a complaint directly with an airline/airport.
But what issues are passengers complaining about the most right now?
The Civil Aviation Authority’s latest two-yearly report on AviationADR gives us a fascinating insight into the 109,998 logged complaints passengers were raising with us between the 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2026.
Read on to find out more!
By the way, if you have an unresolved Flight Complaint…
AviationADR offers a FREE, independent route to a resolution – approved by the Civil Aviation Authority to settle disputes between passengers and Participating Member airlines and airports across the UK and EU.
Flight delays top the list
When looking at what the most common topic of complaint was for the disputes submitted to us during the two-year reporting period, it’s clear that flight delays topped the list.
Between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2026, AviationADR received 52,368 disputes total relating to flight delay complaints.
That’s almost half of all the disputes we received in the timeframe (109,998)!
- 39,664 of those disputes related to flight delay compensation (which was the largest individual complaint category in the entire report)
- 11,371 of the disputes related to expenses following a flight delay
That means more than 51,000 disputes related to compensation or reimbursement of expenses following a delayed flight!
Meanwhile, flight delay complaint figures for refunds and alternative flights lagged behind at 1,332 and 1, respectively.
These figures highlight that flight delays remain a common issue for air passengers.
> How to claim flight delay compensation
> How much delay compensation you can claim
Cancellations are another major source of complaints
After flight delays, flight cancellations were the next biggest source of disputes submitted to us during the report timeframe, coming in at 25,096 flight cancellation disputes total!
Of that figure, 16,264 disputes related to flight cancellation compensation, whilst a further 7,690 related to expenses following a flight cancellation.
Again, outside of compensation and expenses, other flight cancellation complaint categories lagged behind:
- Refunds: 1,138
- Alternative Flights: 3
- Right to care: 1
- Information: 0
These figures show that disputes relating to financial remedies make up the vast majority of flight cancellation cases brought to us, compared with those categorised as relating to alternative flights or the right to care.
> Cancelled flight compensation amounts
Compensation is a recurring theme
One of the clearest things we can see from the data is how often compensation features in passenger disputes that are brought to AviationADR across dispute topics.
For the topic of Denied Boarding, we received 4,759 disputes total.
> Complain about being denied boarding
Of those 4,759 Denied Boarding disputes, 3,716 related to compensation – which, again, far outweighs the number of disputes we received for the other Denied Boarding categories:
- Expenses: 662
- Refunds: 381
- Alternative Flight: 0
- Information: 0
- Right to care: 0
When you add together the numbers of compensation-related disputes we received for delayed flights, cancelled flights, and denied boarding, there were almost 60,000 disputes submitted across these 3 topics alone!
Amount of compensation-related disputes AviationADR received 1st April 2024 – 31st March 2026:
- Flight delays: 39,664
- Flight cancellations: 16,264
- Denied boarding: 3,716
This doesn’t mean every passenger who experiences a delay, cancellation or denied boarding is entitled to compensation. Eligibility depends on the circumstances of the disruption and the relevant rules.
But what the figures do demonstrate is just how frequently questions around compensation arise when air travel doesn’t go according to plan!
Baggage problems remain a common frustration
Not every complaint is about direct flight disruption.
Our data also shows that baggage continues to be a significant source of passenger disputes.
During the reporting period, we received 5,259 total disputes concerning delayed, damaged, lost or stolen baggage, and a further 10 disputes relating to cabin baggage.
Hand baggage fees are an emerging issue
One of the trends highlighted in the report is a particular increase in complaints about the fees charged for hand baggage that exceeds an airline’s permitted size allowance.
In many cases, we found that passengers have been escalating complaints with us because they were required to pay an additional baggage fee, but their bag was still allowed to travel in the aircraft cabin – leaving them to wonder:
If my bag isn’t too large for the cabin to accommodate, why have I been charged?
However the report highlights that, in many scenarios, the charge applied is simply for a larger piece of hand baggage. In the report, we suggest that airlines could make their T&Cs clearer surrounding this issue in future, in order to reduce passenger confusion.
What other issues are passengers complaining about?
Of course, the air-travel disputes we receive go far beyond just delays, cancellations, denied boarding, and baggage.
During the reporting period, AviationADR also logged received disputes for the following topics:
- Booking problems: 429 disputes
- Tickets and fares: 156 disputes
- Medical issues: 10 disputes
- Right to care for persons with reduced mobility / unaccompanied children:
4 disputes - Persons with reduced mobility or special needs: 2 disputes
- In-flight facilities and services: 2 disputes
- Complaint process: 1 dispute
A further 21,902 disputes were recorded as “other”, split between 2,293 under the EU261 categories and 19,609 outside them. That is around one in five of everything we received, and the second largest single figure in the report.
This shows that passenger complaints can arise at almost every stage of the travel experience – from making a booking to arriving at the destination.
Not every complaint reaches a decision
The report also records why some cases close before an adjudicator reaches an outcome.
The largest single reason is not a technicality or a rejection on the merits. It is that we lose contact with the passenger: 41.48% of all discontinued cases ended that way.
So, if you bring a complaint to us… Check the inbox of the email you registered with, including the spam folder!
We will need to come back to you, and a case cannot progress without a reply.
What does the data tell us about air-travel complaints?
Looking at the figures as a whole, there are some clear patterns.
First and foremost, flight disruption dominates passenger complaints.
Of the 109,998 disputes received by AviationADR during the reporting period, 77,464 of them fell into the delayed flight and cancelled flight categories.
That accounts for about 70% of all the disputes we received in the timeframe!
Secondly, the financial consequences of disruption matter to passengers.
Compensation and expenses feature heavily throughout the figures. When a flight goes wrong, passengers aren’t just concerned about the inconvenience… They’re often concerned about the financial impact too.
Across delayed flights, cancelled flights, and denied boarding, there were almost 60,000 disputes submitted to us relating to compensation!
Finally, the data highlights some more specific issues being raised by passengers.
Hand baggage fees are one example. Although baggage complaints represent a smaller proportion of the overall disputes recorded, the report notes an increase in complaints relating to fees charged when hand baggage exceeds the permitted dimensions.
This issue is therefore worth watching as part of the wider picture of passenger complaints.
The top 3 AviationADR complaint categories at a glance:
The following data was pulled from the Civil Aviation Authority’s two-yearly report, for the reporting period 1st April 2024 – 31st March 2026.
Flight Delays
| Complaint | Number of disputes received |
| Compensation | 39,664 |
| Expenses | 11,371 |
| Refund | 1,332 |
| Alternative Flight | 1 |
| Right to Care | 0 |
| Information | 0 |
Flight Cancellations
| Complaint | Number of disputes received |
| Compensation | 16,264 |
| Expenses | 7,690 |
| Refund | 1,138 |
| Alternative Flight | 3 |
| Right to Care | 1 |
| Information | 0 |
Denied Boarding
| Complaint | Number of disputes received |
| Compensation | 3,716 |
| Expenses | 662 |
| Refund | 381 |
| Alternative Flight | 0 |
| Right to Care | 0 |
| Information | 0 |
I have a flight complaint! How do I get started with AviationADR?
Once your evidence is together, you can lodge your complaint with us for FREE in whichever way suits you – through our online portal, our app, by post, or by phone:
> Start your complaint with AviationADR
> What to do before you come to us
> Complain about an airline in the UK
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